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This week I am starting on Writing About Nature, by John A. Murray. You see, I have always wanted to share fiction in which the setting was a character in its own right. Sometimes I do better than other times. So far, I have shied away from just writing about nature as what it is. I feel that if I could approach it more as creative nonfiction, I would come closer to the heart of what I want to say.
Nature inspires everybody in one way or another, but for me, it has always been a deep and (mostly) abiding love. I feel safer in the woods and meadows than I ever have in any city. I feel more at home there, and I am more confident in myself there. It’s the same here on the homestead. I think I can approach what I feel about the land more directly and perhaps more confidently in this genre. We will see. Of course my affinity for the hills of northeast Oklahoma will always color my writing fiction or nonfiction, but eventually I will grow past the need for such a stern reliance on my foreknowledge of the place where I live, and embrace the idea of nurturing a rapport with whatever place I happen to be in.
This book seems to be a treasury of exercises that may help me do just that. I will be pairing it with another book, that I will feature next week. These books will make up much of my creative writing craft research this summer. For now, I will follow along with the exercises as I go about my chores and learning about the homestead, and relay what I can for you here, both about the craft of writing and my observations on the homestead. What else should a writer do when undergoing so many life changes at once, but journal and craft works from experiences?
